Friday, August 24, 2012

Last
weekend, I was sitting around having a few beers with the Safari boys, when
Mentor started (jokingly) lamenting the fact I never bake any more.

At the
start of my PhD, when I was working full time in hospitality (5 nights, with
double shifts Fri-Sat) and studying part time (2-3 days a week), I used to have
one blessed day a week off. Tuesdays were the one day I could sleep in, do my
laundry, go to the shops, and finish my chores. It was the weekly Safari poker
game. And it was baking. Usually it was cupcakes, because they're easy to make,
easy to share, and easy to eat. My lemon
cupcakes recipe is the most read post on this blog! Anyway, I'd bake them
in the early afternoon, ice them early evening, and appear at the poker game
with a box in hand. I remember one game where I was actually using the boys'
kitchen to bake ginger
cookies, rolling them while playing several hands. We had a new guy, who questioned
my being allowed to play, let alone play while baking, only to be slapped
upside the head and told to never question the method, "the cookies just
appear!".

Other
than the occasional birthday cake or lab meeting, I haven't really stretched my
baking legs in the kitchen for 18 months, and I've missed it. So when Mentor
started joking about it, I figured now was as good a time as any. A bit of
discussion followed, and I decided to have another crack at the bacon/maple
syrup/pancake theme. My original attempt involved pancake mixture with bacon
mixed through poured into muffin tins, topped with maple icing and maple-tossed
bacon pieces. While you got the idea, they weren't really cupcakey. Switch
pancake for chocolate, and you get...

Chocolate, Bacon & Maple Syrup Cupcakes

(Because everything is better with bacon)

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups
plain flour

2 cups
sugar

Pinch
salt

2 large
eggs

1/4
teaspoon baking powder

1
teaspoon bicarb soda

3/4 cup
milk

3/4 cup
water

1/2
teaspoon vanilla flavour

150g dark
chocolate (70% or higher)

50g
unsalted butter

Topping

Around
50:50 butter & cream cheese (I use 1/2 block Philadelphia)

Icing
sugar

Bacon

Maple
syrup

Preheat
your oven to 180C, and line a muffin/cupcake tin as desired.Melt your
butter and chocolate together in a non-stick pan over very low heat. Chocolate
will help at blood temperature, so use your lowest setting). Meanwhile, pop all
the other cupcake ingredients into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer to about 30
seconds, or until combined. Scrape down your bowl, and mix again for about 2
minutes, by which point your batter should be super smooth and your chocolate
melted. Let the chocolate cool slightly, then add it to your bowl and give it
another good mix until evenly distributed. Your batter should vaguely resemble
slightly runny chocolate mousse.

Spoon/pour
your batter into your lined tray, 2/3 filling each well. Into the oven for
about 20mins, or until the spring back when lightly touched (or you can use the
clean bamboo skewer method). Let them rest for 5 minutes, then remove from tin
and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.

While
your cupcakes are cooling, place your bacon onto a wire rack over a baking
tray, and put it in the oven. The aim is super crispy bacon with as little fat
remaining as possible, thus the rack. When it's starting to look golden brown,
pull it out, and place on some paper towel to absorb any remaining grease.
Don't worry if your rashers seem a bit pliable when fresh out the oven, they
will go crisp after a few moments. Once cool, chop/break into small pieces.

On to the
key part of this whole recipe: the maple syrup icing. Icing measurements are
tricky, as they will vary depending on where you are. I generally start with a
half-half mix of unsalted butter and Philly cheese, around 125g of each, a
tablespoon of maple syrup (not the fake maple flavoured syrup) and beat using a
hand mixer. Once combined, I gradually add icing sugar (not icing mixture,
which contains extra starch) until I get the firmness of icing I'm after. You
may want to give it a brief mix with a spatula, just to make sure there's no
lumps of sugar, then put in the fridge to set slightly.

Once your
cupcakes are cooled, add enough maple syrup to your bacon pieces to just coat.
You don't want them soaked, otherwise you get soggy bacon pieces! Use a piping
bag or butter knife to apply your icing, top with a sprinkle of bacon, et
voila! Now try not to eat them all in one hit.

I always cook more bacon than I
think I'll need, because invariably a few pieces go missing before they make it
onto the cupcakes.

You can cut corners on some
things, but try for good maple syrup. It will reduce the amount you need to
use, and is what makes this unusual recipe really work. The most common comment
from people when I make anything with this icing is that they would have been
happy to ditch the cake and just eat the icing, and that's down to good syrup.

BurgerMary posted a recipe for
Bacon Praline yesterday. Haven't tried it yet, but could see it going very well
on top of these instead of the maple-tossed bacon.

Monday, August 6, 2012

A well thought menu, complete with tasting
notes from both brewer and chef!

Last Wednesday night (2nd August), I had the
opportunity to attend the Geelong region’s first Beer Degustation, held at
Odyssey Tavern in Mt Duneed. The brews featured on the night were all from the
Mornington Peninsula Brewery (MPB), with six beers matched to six courses by
the chefs from Odyssey.

Grant and the crew have been operating the Surf Coast craft-beer
mecca that is Odyssey Tavern since March 2012, giving the region a much needed
opportunity to sink its teeth into the boutique brews that the mainstream invariably
forces out in set-in-its-ways Gee-troit. With over 80 beers from Australia and
New Zealand, 8 taps of continuously changing guest pours, and a menu that
caters to pretty much everyone, it is rapidly becoming a favourite in the area.
You won’t find a Carlton Draught, a VB, or (heaven forbid) a Corona in the
place, but what you will find are passionate staff who are happy to guide you
on your first steps along the path to malty, hoppy enlightenment.

After a weekend at Splendour in
the Grass, subject to mid-strength beers and foot-deep mud, I was eager to get
out to Odyssey for what was shaping up to be a great occasion. So eager that
while on the bus, I missed my stop, and ended up in Torquay. Look, it was dark,
and it’s the Surf Coast Highway. After hitching a ride back to Whites Road with
an off-duty bus-driver, I was met by the warm glow and happy buzz of
pre-drinks, with attendees mingling around the two long tables and, of course,
bar. I started with the MPB Sorachi Kolsch, a clean, light, refreshing brew,
with a nice lemongrass hit on the tongue, most likely from the Japanese Sorachi
Ace hop. Would be perfect for a few in the hammock come summer, and was a great
way to start the night.

After finding our seats (well,
everyone really just sat where they were and got to talking to the people
around them), and a brief welcome by Grant, he handed over the floor to the
guys from Mornington, Head Brewer Andrew Gow and Michael “the sales guy”. It
was fantastic to have these guys introduce each of the beers, talking about the
ideas and influences, the process, answering every question thrown at them, and
with a good dose of humour. Their passion was contagious, and really took the
appreciation of the beers to another level.

Smoked Salmon Wonton w/ MPB Witbier

First up was the MPB Witbier,
matched with a smoked salmon wonton stack, with wasabi mayo and balsamic
reduction, served with roast pear and pickled ginger. Now, I’m not usually a
huge fan of witbiers. I find them quite confronting, with a sense of umami that
I’d sooner associate with cured meat, vegemite, or sushi than a beverage.
However, paired with this dish, I found a certain appreciation, and the witbier
and I made a tenuous truce. The beer has a real coriander element, with citrusy
overtones, which worked wonderfully well to create a sweet and sour sensation
with the soft pear, spicy ginger, and gentle warmth of the wasabi. It also cut
well through the richness of the smoked salmon, and the whole dish was
lightened by the crunch of the crispy wontons. One of my top two matches of the
night!

Herb-crusted lamb w/ MPB English Special Bitter

The second entrée was a herb
crusted lamb backstrap on citrus couscous with a quince jus, matched to the MPB
English Special Bitter. It was a beautiful deep orange colour, would be perfect
around autumn harvest with big sweet raspberry notes, and a bit of earthy brown-sugar
toffee. Something a bit fruity as well, almost reminding me of trail mix, or
Christmas cake. The lamb and quince worked really well with this beer, bringing
out some of the more complex flavours, but consensus at our end of the table
was the summery couscous was a little out of place. Whilst delicious, and
working very well with the lamb, the bitter really felt like it needed
something a bit more earthy, like sweet potato, or a parsnip mash, to really
complement the autumn characteristics of the beer.

Poached Rockling w/ MPB IPA

It was then on to the MPB American-style IPA, matched with a
delicate poached rockling, scalloped chat potatoes, and a baby caper, thyme and
verjuice sauce. The chef was not kidding when in his notes he said it was
“something a little left of centre”, but it worked! The IPA was beautifully
malty, quite bitter, and a little on the alcoholic side (~6.2%), with subtle
nectarine/peachy flavours. From memory, this is attributed to the three types of
hops, Citra, Centennial and Simcoe (correct me if I’m wrong!). The creamy sauce
played down some of the bitterness, though the bite from the red onion gave a
bit of the punch I’d associate with IPA’s usual spicy pairings.

Too tasty to last (Pork & White peppercorn sauce)

The final main was pork medallions, with blue cheese and
green peppercorn sauce, topped with some leafy green salad, and matched with
the MPB Brown Ale. One of the few brown ales available at the moment, this was
the beer highlight for me, a really nutty, warming beer, very malty. Really
reminded me of rum & raisin chocolate. While this paired really well with
the pork (chocolate and pork are always a winning combination in my book), the
thick, creamy sauce got in the way a bit, bringing out all of the pepper, and
drowning any more subtle flavours that the lighter white meat would have
brought forward.

Sex on a plate: Vanilla pannacotta w/ MPB Porter

Dessert one was the highlight of my night. The MPB Porter, paired
to a vanilla pannacotta with burnt orange syrup and roasted pinenut toffee.
There are those moments in your life where something just works. I flushed, I
giggled, and I melted into a pool of dessert ecstasy. The porter is beautiful and rich, with big, bitter dark
chocolate and coffee flavours, with a subtle thread of vanilla to round it out.
Combine that with the luscious, perfectly set pannacotta, which really brought
out the vanilla in the porter, the bitter orange caressing the chocolately
notes, and the way that the bright pinenut toffee brought out the brown-sugar
notes of the beer were amazing. I could have died a very happy woman there and
then. The guys opposite me at the table were asking if I needed a moment to
recover. If Odyssey does not make this combination a permanent fixture, they
are missing a beautiful opportunity.

Chocolate Pikelets w/ MPB Imperial Stout

The final course was a super-rich stack of dark chocolate
pikelets, with white chocolate and honeycomb filling, served with a mulled wine
syrup, and matched to the MPB Imperial Stout. It was a great match, the
chocolatey stout adding another chocaholic layer to this decedent end to the
night. A touch of liquorice, and something reminiscent of cherries in the beer
was enhanced by the syrup, which I could happily have drunk on its own. It was
the prefect winter dessert, matched with a brilliant winter stout (at 9.5%, it’s
a real warmer). Coming at the end of what had been a huge meal, it was perhaps
a slightly heavy note to finish on, but a tasty one none the less. I did manage
to resist the urge to curl up under the table and go to sleep afterwards!

After dinner, it was great fun to hang around, meet some of
the beer aficionados of the region, and sample a few more of MPB stable,
including their delectable Imperial Amber (figgy caramel goodness), and the ol’
faithful Pale Ale (My original introduction to the world of beer!). Whilst the
beer was the star on the night, the food was beautifully presented, and every
course was delicious. I will certainly be back for more. This was an absolutely wonderful event, and I express my
whole-hearted thanks to everyone that was involved in making it such a
memorably experience. May it be the first of many (official) beer appreciation
sessions!

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Introducing...

A student, a scholar, a sucker for punishment. Lives for the dream, and dreams of the life. A daughter, a demon, a victim to vision, an inamorata, a friend. Horrified by the depth of human ignorance and cruelty, but working toward a less horrific future.